Born in Forest City, in 1965, Frerichs earned his BA with Departmental Distinction at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, then took an MA at the University of Iowa and stayed on to earn his MFA in 1991. He went to the Universitaet Osnabrueck in Germany on a Fulbright Fellowship. He a Visiting Artist at Truman State University in Kirksville, and is now an Assistant Professor of Art at Central College in Pella.

Of his work, Timothy Frerichs writes: "My imagery has developed out of my interest in historical and cultural views and perceptions of nature." His drawings clearly follow from these interests in nature and attitudes pertaining to it. His recent collection of forty botanical studies, mounted as a composite, derives from a grant from the American Scandinavian Foundation for study in the Linnaeus gardens at Uppsala University in Sweden. Frerichs appeals to those interested in botanical subjects and drawing as a tool of observation, and those who value the art of the line, calligraphic or representational.